wire to the ear

Even if you can’t understand German this is fun to watch. Bjork live using ReacTable, Rémi Dury’s KRL and footage from the Tenori-on event’s.

Do any of you guys own an “alternate” controller? A Monome? I’m still a mouse and keyboard guy but if money were no object I’d own a room full of this stuff!

The Voice of Saturn - Synth & Sequencer from wiretotheear on Vimeo.

Here is a video of my latest toys. The Voice of Saturn Synthesizer & Sequencer. They are from Curious Inventor and available as a kit or pre-built. I’ve been able to also control the synth using my Kenton Pro-2000. I’ve also been able to lock the Saturn Sequencer to Ableton Live also using the Kenton Pro-2000.

Loosely based on the Atari Punk Console with some custom tweaks and an LFO front end, this box makes a ridiculous amount of different sounds (mp3 coming soon), all from three 555s. (synth) - www.curiousinventor.com

This is a 10 step analog sequencer, which basically steps through 10 different voltage levels that are set by the black knobs. The output control voltage and trigger signals are typically used to control pitch, filters, drum triggers and an endless number of other parameters on other synths. (sequencer) - www.curiousinventor.com

There not too much for me to say other than these are great, cheap, dirty and fun. What more do you want?

D16’s Drumazon and Devastator. from wiretotheear on Vimeo.

Here is a screencast I put together showing a few features of D16’s incredible Roland TR-909 emulator Drumazon and their new distortion plug-in Devastor. I really like both of these. After watching the video I encourage you to head over to the D16 website and download the demos.

I’ve owned a real Roland TR-909 for many years. In fact I bought mine from Chaka Kahn! I can honestly say Drumazon is a better replacement. It’s a joy to use and you get all the nicesties of software (presets). You also get features a real 909 doesn’t have like random and automation. When you add a quality multiband distortion unit like Devastor to it you can’t help but smile. This is audio software at its best.

http://www.d16.pl/

Do you own any of D16’s products?

Wire to the Ear takes you to Jomox. from wiretotheear on Vimeo.

Last week I decided to buy a Jomox Mbase 01. It’s a 100% analog kick drum module. It gives you kicks that range from a small click to complete bass insanity. It can convincing do any 909 or 808 kick drums plus many more variations. Honestly it’s the best kick drum I ever heard. I will be doing another post with samples and a full review. Take it from someone who performs live every weekend: having a killer perfect kick drum is vital!

My first go to place for all things analog boutique is Schnieder’s Buero and since I already have a Vermona DRM1 MKIII on order with them I thought I would just add the Mbase onto the order. Unfortunately they said they were out of MBase’s and didn’t know when new ones were coming in. Next I walked over to Sound & Drumland and they told me it would be about a month. A month? Come on man! I have money there must be a way right?

So I did what any American born capitalist would do and emailed the manufacturer direct. Just a few minutes later Jürgen Michaelis the owner and producer of all the Jomox products emailed me back saying he had one left and I could pick it up from him. I knew if I was going to Jomox I had to bring my camera.

I got on my bicycle (it’s the best way to get around Berlin) and made my way to Neukolin to Jomox headquarters. What I did not expect was Jürgen being so open and friendly. He could see I was seriously interested in what was going on and he put aside a good hour of his day to show me his workshop and toys. I’m very pleased to be able to show you the video above.

Do you see that Mbase 01 he signed? That one is mine!

Here are a few bullet points I picked up from my conversation with Jurgen Michaelis:

• He once worked at Sound & Drumland.
• He repaired Roland TR-909s at a place called Xtended which still exists.
• Because he did repairs for the Roland drum machine he had access to the papers and could design his own machines (the Xbase line) when Roland decided not to compete in the Analog space.
• Roland has never shown any ill will to the Jomox line.
• He personally took a trip to Taiwan to find a manufacturing plant for Jomox products.
• He hand tests every Jomox product still.
• The metal work comes from within Germany.
• He doesn’t listen to much electronic music (I did give him my album though!).
• He is thinking about moving to America someday.
• He did tell me what he is working on next but I can’t tell you (sorry!).

Besides the video I took a few still photos. Check them out: click here

I’ve mentioned the Berlin synthesizer shop Schneider’s Buero a few times on this blog. In fact I posted a photo set from the amazing store: click here. It’s run by Andreas Schneider who could not be a nicer or more enthusiastic synth head. The store is just down the street from me and just last week I ordered a Vermona DRM1 MKIII from them. So I am delighted to discover there is a documentary in the works about the shop! It looks like its going to be really great with interviews with people like Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Ken Macbeth and Anthony Rother.

‘Totally Wired’ explores one man’s electric evangelism, and the interface he has built to connect analogue instrument inventors with their end-users. The film features an informed selection of inventors and artists alike, including Dieter Doepfer, Junior Boys, Ken MacBeth, Anthony Rother, Jessica Rylan, Daniel Miller, Wowa Cwejmann, Per Salzwedel, Ricardo Villalobos, Magda, Marc Houle and many more. - totallywired.tumblr.com

Keep an eye out on their official blog for more news: totallywired.tumblr.com

A great interview with Rob Acid about his Mastering career including his thoughts on smashed (square) waveforms. He also talks about his modified vintage gear and giant sized spring reverb.

Yesterday a box arrived from Neuton who distributes my record label, Things to Come Records. It was the new release from Ionic Vision called “Club Isolation”. Ionic Vision are a well known EBM (Electronic Body Music) band from Belgium. They contacted me about releasing remixes for two songs off their new album “Sweet Isolation”. When they told me they already had mixes from David Carretta and Millimetric I knew I had to do it.

So back to the box and the point of this post. I always love opening a box of new records and I knew Andy de Decker from Ionic Vision wouldn’t be getting his records for a few days so I decided to videotape myself opening the box to show him. Then I remembered all the Macbook Pro box opening videos there are on YouTube and the light went off in my head. So you see the creation above. Don’t forget to blast the music behind your show and put links to places you can buy the release!

Belgian EBM band Ionic Vision releases 12 inch single on Things to Come Records with remixes by David Carretta, The Horrorist, Millimetric and Stamba! This is Electronic Body Music! The Carretta & Millimetric remixes of Sleep & Die Macht are set to be giant hits in Darkwave clubs and Industrial Goth events. The Horrorist remix will scare the living daylights out of you. Stamba from Bordeaux shows off his studio skills in a slick production. As with all TTC releases: MUST HAVE! - Neuton.com

There are more things you can do than a simple unboxing as far as video promos go. Find one of the first stores selling the new baby and do a video walk in and show the record on the shelf. Get two nice looking ladies to play frisbie with the new 12 inch single (in slow motion of course). The skies the limit. I wonder how to make a video promo of a Digital Download unboxing?

Vimeo, Viddler or Blip.tv are all video hosting sites which look much better than YouTube. The video above which is hosted on Vimeo alows me to customize the color of the text overlay. But which ever site you choose to host your promo also add the video to YouTube because of the shear volume of viewers on that site. Don’t forget to add tags to your video so your promo shows up when someone searches “ebm” or “Things to Come Records” for example.

Be warned that like blog posts people can comment on your video. Some people will think the idea of a record box opening completely stupid. However, fans want to know the behind the scenes stuff and record collectors are a special bunch who will drool as they watch the shiny new vinyl appear!

More info about Ionic Vision “Club Isolation”: click here

Miro Pajic who records under the name Hypnotizer for my label was in my studio today. I hooked up my Nintendo DS and let him rock out with Jam Sessions for a while. To make it sound even better I ran it through Izotope’s incredible Trash plug-in.

Miro is a legend in the techno scene with over 80 releases, many on the infamous PCP label and these days on Klikhaus. Check him out here:
www.myspace.com/pajicmiro

I’ve been stuck in the studio catching up on several remixes and songs for my next album. I would never forget about my blog readers so while I was there today I shot three videos of my Roland SH3 in action.

The Roland SH3 was produced in 1974. It is more rare than the SH3A which was put into the market after Moog sued Roland for the original SH3’s filter design. This is one reason the Roland SH3 sounds so incredible. Rumor has it that less than 100 of these were ever made.

You can hear pure Roland SH3 accompanied by an Electrocomp-101 in two of my songs: Room of Posers and Sex Machine.

Be sure to check out the other two Roland SH3 videos I put up here:
http://www.vimeo.com/user442527

Qoob.tv is an Italian video website that partners with MTV Europe. It has it’s own internet shows and networks and it also allows users to upload content. One of the gems on the site is an in house show called Tech Stuff. They have produced ten excellent electronic music related videos.

Some of the subjects covered so far include a visit to Jomox in Berlin, Sherman Filter, Moog Music, Analog Synthesis, Theremins and more. The videos are all well produced and worth a visit.

Tech Stuff is a documentary of 10 x 4 mins episodes on the techniques, the artists and the most bizarre instruments which have made the history of electronic music. Why is it that bands such as Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk use equipment from more than 30 years ago? What are Theremin, Moog and generative music? How does a filter work? How is sound digitalised? Who were Robert Moog and Lev Termen? Did electronic music already exist in the 1920s? How is a vinyl record pressed? And what about the future? These and many more questions find their answer in Tech Stuff, with rare footage, performance excerpts and interviews made to appease the needs of the International sound enthusiasts. - Tech Stuff, qoob.tv

Here is the 5 minute Jomox video interview with founder Jürgen Michaelis. In the video he mentions they still have a shop open in Berlin. I’m going to have to make a trip over there as soon!